Desperate times...

[Katywakey]

I have a 4 month old and since he was about 8 weeks old he's been waking on average 4-5 times a night. I'm EBF (he won't take a bottle!) and I'm guessing it's become a habit as I generally have to feed him to get him back to sleep. As he is feeding so much at night I don't think he's taking as much as he could be during the day. Often feeds are short and he never empties a breast. I'm all for going with the flow, but this is becoming unsustainable as I also have a 2.5 year old to care for and I'm just so exhausted. I'm also struggling to get him into any kind of routine during the day, and I wonder if this is also having a knock on effect. This is an idea f how our day goes:
6-7am wakes but never wants to feed much at all
1-1.5hrs after waking needs a nap (30mins-1hr)
8:30/9am feeds (seems to want more at this time)
1-1.5hrs after waking needs a nap (30mins-1hr)
11am feeds (never very much)
LTN (I've been trying to ensure this is longest)
13:30ish feed (never very much)
He'll then have two short cat naps through afternoon to get him to a 18:45/19:00 bedtime. He does s good feed before bed. Sometimes he'll go until 22:30, other times it could be 20:30 or 21:30, then it's every 1.5-2hrs all night.
Any advice very welcome!!!!!

[ImSoVeryTired]

Watching with interest as I'm in a similar situation. Does anything in particular wake him? Seems to be wind with my little boy. He mainly seems to use me as a dummy at night.

[Katywakey]

I think he uses me as a dummy too and just can't resettle without a feed. He'll take a dummy during the day, but not at night. Last night he managed two 4hr chunks of sleep, which is very rare(!) and so I know he can do it. I've just ordered a swaddle sleeping bag as I wonder if the moro reflex is waking him still...willing to try anything at the moment!

[Ifnotherethenwhere]

This sounds like classic 4 month sleep pattern/behaviour (often called four month sleep regression). My DC1 was much the same at this age. I got through it by co-sleeping with my top up, so I could latch her on half-awake and then fall asleep while she was feeding.